Back in my School Days (when we used Chalk to write on Slate) I remember one Christmas I got a Charles Buchanan Football Book and in a Section about Clubs Nicknames it was stated Notts County were Called the Lambs? This I told a School mate (an Ardent Notts Fan) who declared that was a Total Load Of Rubbish. But I replied that was what it said in my Football Book. Yeah well you're Football Book is Wrong.

And to Prove his point Terry (that's my School mate) Brings in a Notts Football Programme, opens the it up and the in Capital Letters it says

MAGPIES MESSAGE. So why the Lambs? And when was the Clubs Nickname changed from the Lambs to the Magpies? And was there any Main Reason for the Change?

 

I understand from information online that "the Lambs" weren't meant to be meek at all.

The name was allegedly derived from an infamous gang of Nottingham thugs.

So the Notts team had a reputation as being a tough team in those days,  certainly not a team of lambs to the slaughter, as the name may suggest.

@Robbie

I heard something along those lines about a Gang of Thugs, and Notts were in some way Connected to the Group. But Dismissed it thinking the Clubs Founders wouldn't be Associated with a Gang of Villains.

21 minutes ago, Wheelbarrow repair man said:

But Dismissed it thinking the Clubs Founders wouldn't be Associated with a Gang of Villains.

That’s probably why they changed to magpies.

This subject has been discussed before.

 

@Wheelbarrow repair man

I found this online through Google.

"Who were the Nottingham Lambs?

By the late 1830s, the beer-swilling louts who followed bare-knuckle fighter William Thompson, known as Bendigo, himself a terrible drinker and brawler, became known as the Nottingham Lambs".

@Robbie and @Fan of Big Tone

Thankyou Gentleman. I didn't know this Subject had been covered before, as I only became a PON Member this Year. How Strange to Call a Bunch of Drinkers and Brawlers the Lambs and why would a Football Club want to give their Team that Nickname ? Unless of course the Founders thought that if other Teams knew of the Lambs reputation they'd be worried about Playing Notts thinking the Team were also Drinkers and Brawlers. Playing Mind Games with the Opposition.

So onto the Magpies. Do either of you Gentlemen know why Notts were renamed the Magpies ( or does any PON Member?).  I would have thought a Name Associated with Notts Legend Robin Hood would have been more appropriate. Like the Archers or the Outlaws.

@Wheelbarrow repair man I imagine it was because they didn’t want to be associated with The Lambs gang and because they played in black and white Magpies was chosen.

@Wheelbarrow repair man 

I didn't know this subject had been covered before either. It doesn't matter. You did ok to bringing the subject up. 

There will be probably lots of new PON members that didn't know either.

Trying to research it online to get the most accurate account.

Found this from searching the web on the subject..

Quite a lot of info on "the lambs"

https://boards.footymad.net/showthread.php?t=38283606

So it appears "The Lambs" was probably nicknamed by Notts fans who were from the working class & the less well off 

The Notts owners were from the well to do, so they probably didn't like the nickname and changed the Notts colours to black and white shirts that gave Boots the new nickname of "the Magpies".

5 minutes ago, Robbie said:

I didn't know this subject had been covered before either. It doesn't matter. You did ok to being the subject up. 

Yes indeed topics are often discussed several times it doesn’t matter that it’s been talked about before I only posted the other topic for information not to criticise.

1 minute ago, Robbie said:

Found this from searching the web on the subject..

Quite a lot of info on "the lambs"

https://boards.footymad.net/showthread.php?t=38283606

 

Looking at that site and all the adverts plastered all over makes me realise how much I love PoN.

@Robbie and @Fan of Big Tone

Thanks Guys the Post you put up was an Interesting Read. And it appears that the Nottingham Slums gave Birth to the Lambs and their Kind. And Bendigo was a Hero to the working classes in the Nottingham Area. I also thought that most Football Clubs of that Era were founded by the Upper Classes and the Players weren't Paid being classed as Amateurs.

The Boom in Nottingham Lace gives rise to another nickname Notts could have been called The Lace Men. Before Notts wore their Now Famous Black and White Stripes weren't their Colours Chocolate and Yellow Quarters? Oh Dear what a Combination, but the Clubs Colours well that's Another Story. 

I don't want to repeat what I wrote, but this is what I believe to be the case.

There's many old pictures of Lambs being used to maintain the grass of Meadow Lane's pitch.

Commonly, the easiest ones to find are from around 1950s though.

“The Lambs” doesn’t quite hit the mark as a club nickname. With the alteration in kit colours and other clubs carving out their own identities, it seemed logical to transition to “The Magpies”.

“The Magpies” is a much better nickname. The change in shirt colour aligns with the club’s shift away from “The Lambs”. I doubt they had any involvement with the club or that the club even considered them. The change was likely made to better establish the club’s identity in football.

@Chris

That's Strange but when you mentioned the Fact about Sheep/Lambs being used to keep the Grass down at Meadow Lane. I got a vague recollection of someone telling me that many years ago. Reading Facts from other members it's Funny how long forgotten memories Suddenly Resurface.

@Wheelbarrow repair man Colin Slater told me that he didn't believe Notts had any connections to The Lamb gang. I have spoken to a lot of club historians and knowledgable people and I do believe it was more down to footballing reasons. With Notts having played in what I was told was a plain white shirt before 1891.

It's a good job we didn't re-think our nickname in 1936; we could be called 'The Free Birds' or the "Burgulars". Obviously a joke, but I have always thought it was interesting how we went from a white shirt, to a bumblebee orange and black horizontal stripe kit, to what looks like the Netherlands to the infamous chocolate kit.

I think it's an obvious sign that we were experimenting and trying to find our real identity.

@Chris

The Connections between the Club and the Lambs was told to me and it was like somebody had said this and somebody else said That and by the time I heard about the Story it had probably been Told and Retold Quite a Few Times with things added to it along the way. That's why I said before I didn't think the Club would associate with a Gang of Thugs.

White shirts before 1891 could that have something To Do with the Lambs nickname? After all Lambs wool is White, in a Majority of Cases.